From Downtown Toronto Ontario Canada and the shores of Georgian Bay & Blue Mountain, my Collingwood Shangri-La escape, I write about people and the goings on here and music, literature and life in general. Equally left brained (IT Project Manager) and right brained (creative writing and learning to play the Ukulele). Love live music and red wine and long conversations. Pull up a chair and join me from time to time and we shall share both thoughts and company! Blog comments welcome!

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Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Changing Landscape in Liberty Village

I first started talking about the construction of my new condo building in last year's blog on Jan 16th - nearly a year ago. Go here if you'd like to read that blog. At that time it was merely a hole in the ground - they were digging out space for the foundations and parking lot. I had waited patiently for a couple of years after I bought it, then bought the one I am in now, moved in and prorogued the decision about what to do (it seems progrogue is a new commonly used word in Canada) until I was forced to decide. The decision is nearly upon me and in the next year I must decide if I can keep the two condos (perhaps renting one out) or if I should sell one of them and if so, which one.

Yesterday, I spoke about my lake view and the sunrise. I noted that my view was now slightly obstructed to the south east with the construction of the building. For comparison, the sunrise I saw yesterday looked like this on Jan 15th of last year.

I have been watching the buiding under construction all year rising in the sky slowly obsuring my view of the Toronto Harbour Islands.

My new condo will face directly west and therefore the view will be toward the Humber Bay area of the Lake Ontario shoreline - not quite as nice as the full southerly lake view I have now.

Over the year, the building has gone up, up and up - it will contain 24 floors of residences. I have one on the 19th floor - I can view its windows from my condo here on the 21st floor of the building known as Battery Park. My new building is known as Liberty Towers.

A few months ago I had my appointment to select the interior finishings for my new Liberty Towers condo. Somehow doing this makes my new condo much more real to me. Suddenly I am confronted with the fact that the condo "to be built", bought more than 4 years ago will come to fruition sometime next winter.

I am very excited about all the neat interior finishings I have chosen. It will be kitted out much nicer than the condo I have now, pocket doors, jaccuzi, wall mounted bathroom faucets, upgraded euro style kitchen counter and other up scale finishings. It will be a great interior space, slightly larger than the one I am in now and also a bit better layout. But the view? Not even half as wonderful as I have now.

My new condo will face west and there will be no downtown skyline to see, something I value so much. There is still a lake view from the balcony but certainly a materially lesser view and also the balcony is half the size of the one I have now.

Another factor I need to consider is the next area of development in Liberty Village - perhaps being built sometime over the next year or two. The King West Plaza, as it is called, will be a might fine looking set of three condos (see below), but the 3 chunks of the upper sections will cut the wonderful view of the Battery Park condos and will likely entirely obscure the westerly view of the Liberty Towers condos. The first building to go up, the one on the east, next to the Liberty Towers will probably start rising in the next couple of years but maybe will be 4 or more years before it is built and ready to occupy, if past history is anything to judge by. Will I be still here in 4 years? Who knows!

So for now this is my view - Liberty Towers under construction and King West Plaza, an empty field which at some point in the coming years rise up from a whole in the ground. My next thought is that I should buy a south facing condo in this new project and leap frog from building to building over the years to the one with the better view.

2 comments:

If view is important to you, then something south-facing in Liberty Towers is your best bet. That's the closest "guaranteed" unobstructed view. Everything else is pretty much temporary.But do you really want to be moving from place to place? That can be costly.

You are right, my west facing Liberty Towers condo will definitely have an inferior view and for that reason I may end up staying where I am and buying another "to be built" - the King West Towers, as a southerly exposure in that building would also offer a "guaranteed" unobstructed view and at a pre-construction, discounted price, if I bought this year.

As to moving from place to place, I am starting to feel an overwhelming urge for major travels - I might just trade a briefcase for a backpack - and so retiring to my Collingwood condo, as a base for my travels, might just be in my cards sometime in the next 5 years anyway.

About Me

I have a great curiosity and interest in the many things around me. I love to travel, even if it is for a walk around the block. I have loved and lost, loved and thrown away and loved again. Currently trying to figure out whether there is a "Mr Right" in my future. My 5 adult children are reasonably self sufficient now and I have the time to indulge myself by exploring the things which interest me. I am now trying to figure out if I am really in retirement and if so how to reconstruct my life or if I am just taking a break from my career for a while.